Bezos’ all-female space squad

[ItsCalledAConversation]

All for women breaking boundaries, representation matters, and all that.

But why for the love of god are all the publicity pictures showing these women in pancake makeup and bouffy blow dries, with the commitment shared that they will fly to space in “full glam”?

I’m really uncomfortable with the message this is partially sending. Yes women can go to space, but only if they look perfectly groomed?

Personally, I would have loved to see publicity pictures that focused on these women being serious and capable, not that their highest endeavour was bloody full glam.

And yes I know people can look nice and be clever, that’s not the point I’m making. Something about this feels regressive.

YABU = let them fly as high as their hair, I’m sure there are plugs for their straighteners aboard the Bezos rocket
YANBU = perfect looks don’t inspire future generations, surely there are better things to focus on than maintaining full glam in space

Just seen the headline on the front of The Sun:
"I kissed the ground and I liked it" 😂

Everybody Is laughing at them ! I was reading the comments of an American site and they are being ripped to shreds, it's all too cringe isn't it ?

I'm by no mean a fan of Elon Musk, but at least his SpaceX rockets have scientific ambition, not just a rich person's flight where none of the passengers even have to press a button other than their harness strap!

To the person that asked, Hidden Figures is currently on Netflix, but will be finishing on 30th April. It's also on Disney Plus.

It's a 2016 film, so if you have a DVD player, you might be able to pick it up in CEX or a charity shop or it's a grand £4.74 from Amazon!

Why was it wrong for them to wear makeup. They were effectively flight passengers . Are you saying nobody should wear makeup on a plane? Why can't they do as they please

Oh no damage control 😂

The problem wasn't them wearing makeup and they were indeed passengers. The problems have been described on this thread, from the emphasis on "sexy spacesuits" to the simultaneously OTT and vapid behaviour from Katy Perry and Lauren Sanchez in particular.

The OP didn't refer to 'sexy spacesuits' only hair and makeup. It was the OP that I was referring too

The op was really referring to the palaver of it all, you just took it literally,it was all just ridiculous, and Katie Perry and her weird "love" responses made me think of the medication scene in the film bridesmaids!

I'm liking the way you are thinking on both mine and the OPS behalf.

We're both very lucky to have you here

just wanted to pop this here - it's a screenshot from Twitter. You really need to see the picture, but the text is:

(from Tracy Edwards)
"A year ago Maiden crossed the finish line of a gruelling 33,000 miles and became the the FIRST all-female crew crew to EVER WIN an around the world race. Don't remember it? Maybe they should have worn make up and tight fitting blue jumpsuits."

I'm not thinking on anybodies behalf it is just my interpretation of what the op meant.

I think they were taking the piss. It was like something out of Austin Powers. Even the rocket.

This is exactly the same as that Oceangate imploding Titanic-visiting submersible where the wealthy pay-for-a-more-money-than-sense-trip passengers were called 'mission specialists'. They were daytrippers. They weren't mission specialists any more than these women in their catwoman zip up costumes are astronauts.

If this thing had exploded on re-entry the conversation would be entirely different.

If you are wealthy, do what you like with your money but don't try to pretend it's something exceptional or that you are there because you are anything other than a wealthy man's girlfriend/favourite popstar/token scientist/token non-caucasian.

Laura Sanchez was quoted in the media today saying this

“I get to go with five incredible women explorers — storytellers — to inspire new generations to be interested in space exploration,” Sánchez said. “It’s not just about going to space, it’s about what all these women bring back and the stories they’re going to be able to tell, the lives they’re going to be able to touch.”

which is the height of delusion. The stories they are going to be able to tell?!?!?!?

We went on a day trip into space. It cost millions of £££ that could have built a hospital wing but we saw the earth from a long way away and experienced zero gravity.

Award that woman the Noble prize for literature. Great story!

Was it a day trip ? I thought they were up there for 30 mins or so.

What I can't understand is how someone with probably hundreds of millions in the bank and young kids would want to risk doing something like that. After all life must be pretty nice. And rockets have the potential to blow up every now and then, space capsules can depressurise and parachutes can fail to open.

I'm glad it all went well for them but even sitting here sipping my Aldi budget cola I am not sure it is something I would want to risk. There are probably amazing things you can do down on the planet that are far less risky and expensive.

This has done nothing for women's progression in science women who have studied and worked in this field for years should have been given the chance

Its like a 90's advertising stunt women looking very groomed pretending to do a job they don't do

It just seems so dated its embarrassing

Not read whole thread, but interesting. I know little about space travel. Have there also been male passengers, who were also called crew? If so, did the media pay this much attention to them, what they wore and what they said?

Fair point. It was 11 minutes according to the BBC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg8e5gq8ljo

No idea what you call that. Not a day-tripper, a quarter-of-an-hour tripper?

Brilliant

This while caper is a comedy gold.

More like put the naught in astronaut. Zero value.

I can't believe she actually said that. What an utter idiot.

👏

I turned to my husband when I saw this on the news and said "fxxking idiot, I'm cringing for her".

My galant husband said "I was thinking the same but wouldn't say it"🤣

William Shatner, but I don't think he pretended to be anything other than a passenger.

Full glam? More like full cringe.

The little I've seen of this was far from inspiring. If they want to do it, good for them that they get to, but why in the world should anyone else care, unless they happen to be fans of one of the women.

It's not for me. Bezos' new woman in particular gives me the creeps.

and Shatner's response was quite interesting.

"I love the mystery of the universe. I love all the questions that have come to us over thousands of years of exploration and hypotheses. Stars exploding years ago, their light traveling to us years later; black holes absorbing energy; satellites showing us entire galaxies in areas thought to be devoid of matter entirely… all of that has thrilled me for years… but when I looked in the opposite direction, into space, there was no mystery, no majestic awe to behold . . . all I saw was death.

I saw a cold, dark, black emptiness. It was unlike any blackness you can see or feel on Earth. It was deep, enveloping, all-encompassing. I turned back toward the light of home. I could see the curvature of Earth, the beige of the desert, the white of the clouds and the blue of the sky. It was life. Nurturing, sustaining, life. Mother Earth. Gaia. And I was leaving her.

Everything I had thought was wrong. Everything I had expected to see was wrong.

I had thought that going into space would be the ultimate catharsis of that connection I had been looking for between all living things—that being up there would be the next beautiful step to understanding the harmony of the universe. In the film “Contact,” when Jodie Foster’s character goes to space and looks out into the heavens, she lets out an astonished whisper, “They should’ve sent a poet.” I had a different experience, because I discovered that the beauty isn’t out there, it’s down here, with all of us. Leaving that behind made my connection to our tiny planet even more profound.

It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of mankind. It filled me with dread. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Dwight

This guy went up on New Shepard last year and it could be seen as righting an injustice, in a small way.